Arriving at the paddock, there were significantly more people today, but still no spectators to be seen; all around were team mbers or FIA staff.
Qin Miao was quite used to this scene by now.
Casually making his way to the interview area, Qin Miao noticed that Leclerc, who had arrived earlier, was already engaged in a pre-race interview.
With plenty of ti before the drivers’ eting, Qin Miao wasn’t in a rush to get interviewed, so he quietly moved up behind Leclerc.
Leclerc was engrossed in answering questions, ensuring he didn’t fall into any traps laid by the reporters, and naturally didn’t notice soone sneaking up behind him.
The reporters filming Leclerc certainly noticed Qin Miao behind him, and a caraman discreetly adjusted his cara so both Leclerc and Qin Miao appeared in the shot.
When Qin Miao was about a ter behind Leclerc, he gave Leclerc’s shoulder a heavy slap and accompanied it with a strange yell.
"Hah!"
Startled by the sudden noise and impact, Leclerc visibly jolted, clearly taken by surprise by Qin Miao’s sneak attack.
The caraman captured the mont responsibly.
Upon realizing it was Qin Miao behind him, Leclerc was instantly annoyed, instructing the caraman to cut the footage while turning to prepare to kick Qin Miao.
Unfortunately, Qin Miao was ready and bolted as soon as Leclerc tried to retaliate.
Leaving Leclerc behind, cursing under his breath.
Returning to the cara, Leclerc shrugged and said, "I’ll find a chance to get back at him."
The host smirked, staying silent, in response to Leclerc’s words about revenge.
Though these scenes weren’t live, it was likely this playful interaction between friends would still be broadcast, as such scenes in the paddock were uncommon.
If not shown in the pre-race preview program, it would likely appear in post-race highlight clips.
After joking with Leclerc, Qin Miao casually found an empty spot among the reporters for his pre-race interview.
The reporters typically had a standardized script with the questions they intended to ask.
Of course, reporters could ask off-script questions if they preferred, but there was no guarantee the drivers would respond to unscripted queries.
I spent half an hour conducting interviews in the area.
During this ti, Leclerc didn’t co over to exact any revenge; he headed back to the team’s eting after finishing his own interview, seemingly quite busy.
Leaving the interview area, Qin Miao spotted Hamilton in a bright pink oversized coat walking from the paddock entrance towards the interview area.
To be honest, Qin Miao really couldn’t appreciate Hamilton’s attire, nor did he think it was stylish or visually appealing.
Qin Miao much preferred the aesthetics of Hanfu.
But he respected Hamilton’s choice.
He waved to Hamilton as a greeting, and after receiving a response, Qin Miao headed to the team headquarters.
Predictably, Hamilton was late for the pre-race eting, but the rcedes staff were used to this; they even started their team etings ten minutes earlier than other teams, anticipating possible delays.
The team eting focused mainly on race strategies for the two drivers and updates on track conditions—much like a war strategy session.
Both drivers had default strategies, taken into account were tire wear levels on the track, as well as Qin Miao needing to block Verstappen’s advances, considering Qin Miao’s start wasn’t particularly strong, he started with dium tires, with hard tires as the default choice later on. According to the team’s strategy calculations, with Qin Miao’s tire conservation skills, completing the race on a one-stop yellow-white strategy is feasible on this track, possibly with so tire reserve.
Any subsequent variables would depend on race conditions as they unfold.
On a track where most have two stops, Qin Miao’s ability to finish with one is certainly impressive, which was one reason Toto signed him.
In F2 sprints, when everyone used hard tires, Qin Miao managed with diums or even soft tires, completing the sprint with ample grip left.
This skill of Qin Miao’s was greatly astonishing to Toto.
Such a talent exists in the world?
Toto was also impressed by Qin Miao’s defensive abilities, but unlike Qin Miao’s tire skills, Toto wasn’t aware of Qin Miao’s defensive prowess when signing him; if he’d known, Qin Miao’s base salary and bonuses would have been much higher.
The key thing was Qin Miao didn’t use this to negotiate better terms with Toto, which felt a bit like finding a rare trait while hatching eggs in a ga and discovering your pet is exceptionally skilled.
After Toto discovered Qin Miao’s impressive defensive skills in Bahrain, he happily celebrated with a couple of extra drinks upon returning to the hotel after the celebration party.
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